Michigan man accused of fracturing Black teen’s jaw with lock: ‘Black lives don’t matter’

A Michigan man is facing a federal hate charge after allegedly fracturing a Black teen’s jaw with a lock and declaring that “Black lives don’t matter.”

Lee James Mouat, 42, is alleged to have hit a Black teen with a bike lock which not only fractured his teeth but broke his jaw, Buzzfeed reports. The 18-year-old has only been identified as D.F.

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A criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan declared that Mouat was charged on Tuesday with one count of willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of his race. The incident in question took place on June 6 when Mouat approached the teenager and his friends who are also Black in a parking lot at William C. Sterling State Park in Monroe, per the affidavit.

Mouat is accused of hurling racial slurs and told the group of Black teenagers that they had no right to use the public beach. The teenagers had just emerged from a swim.

“N**gers don’t belong on this beach,” Mouat yelled, according to the victim, before “walking quickly towards him” and striking him in the face with a “chain bike-lock,” the documents said.

The teen was hospitalized and treated for his injuries that included the loss of several teeth and a broken jaw. Witnesses claimed that Mouat also repeatedly used the N-word.

“These n**gers are playing gang music” and “I’ll bash their heads in if they don’t turn [their music] down,” Mouat said according to the affidavit.

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He also made reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. After the death of George Floyd in May, protests swept the country with the demand for police reform and affirming the lives of Black people. Mouat felt differently.

“Black lives don’t matter,” he yelled before striking the teen.

Mouat was initially arrested after the incident and charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, felonious assault, and ethnic intimidation, Monore News reported. He is currently still in the custody of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and being held on a $100,000 bond.

Federal prosecutors stated that Mouat faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted on the hate crime charges.

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